Ever needed to quickly convince a friend to go to your favorite restaurant instead of theirs? Or maybe you're trying to sell an idea to someone? A well crafted pitch can convince people in a short amount of time, and Forbes outlines exactly how to do it with a message map.

Forbes concentrates on using a quick pitch to sell products, but it's just as applicable to selling an idea. They suggest using a message map to craft the pitch and breaking it down into three steps:

Support the headline with three key benefits: These are the three reasons why the person should care about your idea. To continue our example above, "The shack has a cheap happy hour, they were voted the best wings by Your Favorite Magazine, and they have clean bathrooms."

Reinforce the three benefits with stories, statistics, and examples: The above two steps should get you through most simple pitches, but if you need to extend it slightly, you can reinforce the idea with some personal notes. This probably takes you past 15 seconds, so keep it short and to the point.

In the end, it's a pretty crafty way to quickly pitch an idea. While most of us don't need to worry about selling products, we do have to sell ideas to friends all the time. It might come in handy when you need to sell yourself during a job interview as well.